While other science fiction mainstays like space travel, global instantaneous communication and self-driving cars have come to fruition, general-purpose household robots have remained out of reach, with even the most advanced research robots struggling to do simple tasks like folding towels.
One set of tasks that would be particularly desirable to automate are tasks related to cleaning. This involves moving objects, and then cleaning surfaces, possibly replacing those objects that belong in the particular space. This patent specification describes methods and apparatus to perform these functions.
Household robots exist today. Most household robots sold today are robotic vacuum cleaners. The best of these robots sense their environment for mapping purposes, but all household vacuuming robots lack the ability to manipulate objects on purpose (although they may accidentally push some objects around the floor).
Some robotic toys have robotic arms that can manipulate small objects. Generally these robots are limited to remote control operation, or simple pre-programmed sequences that sometimes follow decision-trees based on sensor input. At best these toys have very limited perception, such as the ability to follow a line drawn on a piece of paper, or to seek or avoid a light. In no way do these toys perform the desired task of cleaning a surface or space.
Much more advanced perception and object-recognition has been demonstrated using research robots including advanced tasks such as folding towels. The authors of this patent specification are unaware, however, of any robot or other device that demonstrated the task of autonomously cleaning a space beyond the floor. The nearest prior art known to the authors include a video of a PR1 research robot appearing to clean a room, which in actual fact is remote-controlled by one of the researchers. The other prior art known to the authors is a robot known as “Fetch” built by SRI of Menlo Park, Calif. that can grasp and pick up objects and identify them. This robot does not include the capability to then put away the object and does not have any capability to clean surfaces. One of the techniques described in this patent specification is touch perception. Some researchers have demonstrated the sense of touch, often in the context of remote-control applications that include haptics. However, other than bumper switches on robotic vacuums, the authors of this patent specification are not aware of any demonstration of touch perception that is used for autonomous object and/or environment recognition.
Therefore, a need exists for novel methods of robotic perception which may be used for autonomous object and/or environment recognition. There is a further need for novel methods for combining touch sensor data with visual sensor data to autonomously perform an activity.